Marc Pingris likely out for rest of season with torn ACL

Marc Pingris was taken off the court on the stretcher with an apparent left knee injury during Game 1 of the 2018 PBA Philippine Cup semifinals series between the Magnolia Hotshots and NLEX Road Warriors. (2:07)

The Hotshots power forward's MRI will be examined by a leading sports doctor.

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"Yes. It's an ACL tear," Pardo said. "He also suffered the same injury before." Pingris reportedly first tore his ACL playing for the Philippine Youth team about 20 years ago.

Pardo added that surgery is being scheduled and that Dr. George Canlas will perform the surgery. Canlas, one of the country's leading orthopedic surgeons, also operated on Pingris for his first ACL injury.

Pingris injured his knee while driving to the basket with 4:39 left in the fourth quarter of Game 1 of the Magnolia-NLEX semifinal series last Saturday. He was rushed to The Medical City. On Sunday he underwent magnetic resonance imaging on his knee, and the results were analyzed by Dr. Canlas on Monday.

ACL injuries typically take seven or eight months to recuperate from, and Pingris could be sidelined for the rest of the 2018 PBA season. In Pingris's case, the timing was made even worse because he is in the last year of his contract. However, Pardo advised the cager, one of the most popular in the history of the franchise, not to worry about his contract situation.

"He's worried because it's his contract year but I told him not to worry about that and focus on getting better," Pardo said.